Here at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual conference and strategy briefing, where women's shoulders are mostly covered and men's shirts are always tucked, the weekend's festivities begin—before the prayer, before the speeches from Senators Marco Rubio and Rob Portman—with paeans to Mark Twain, a writer who saved some of his wittiest barbs for the religious.
"Mark Twain said 'There is something good and motherly about Washington, the grand old benevolent national asylum for the helpless," said Gary Marx, the Faith and Freedom Coalition's executive director, to the most committed "citizen lobbyists"—those who came early to lobby their lawmakers on Capitol Hill, those who are now chewing their blackened chicken salads and perfect slices of cheesecake decorated with dollops of whipped cream and strawberries on top.
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